Maps of Berlin Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News:  Berlin

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library houses a collection of over 140,000 maps, atlases, gazetteers, and other cartographic resources.  The GRMC includes historic and modern maps of cities and countries around the world, including Berlin, Germany.

Handy laminated tourist maps of the city are available for circulation from the GRMC, including the National Geographic Destination Map of Berlin (top map above, click to enlarge). The map shows the location of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche) next to the site of the truck attack at a Christmas market on December 19.

The GRMC also includes historic maps of Berlin from World War II.  The U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) published city plans of Berlin in 1943.  The middle map above is a map of the district boundaries of Berlin published by the OSS in 1943 based on a provisional map from 1938.  The GRMC also has maps from the War Office in Great Britain dating back to World War II.

The Collection also includes maps that depict the city separately as East Berlin and West Berlin.  The bottom map is East Berlin published in 1972.  The pale red outline identifies the location of the Berlin Wall.  On the legend of the map, the wall is labelled only “State boundary.”  The legend of the map is published in German, Russian, French, and English.  The popular Brandenburg Gate is labelled as “Brandenburger Tor” just along the Berlin Wall.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  For more information about the unique cartographic resources at Ball State University Libraries, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Holiday Hours in the GIS Research and Map Collection

“Yes the library is open over the semester break.”

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will be open regular hours from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm today, December 19, through December 22.  The GRMC will open at 8:00 am on Friday, December 23 and close at 3:00 pm.

The GRMC will be closed on Monday, December 26, and Tuesday, December 27; it opens for regular hours 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Wednesday and Thursday.  The GRMC closes again at 3:00 pm on Friday, December 30.  The GRMC will be closed on Monday, January 2, and reopen for regular hours on Tuesday, January 3 at 8:00 am.

University Libraries hours during the semester break are listed here:

Pearl Harbor Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Pearl Harbor 75^th Anniversary in Maps

Tomorrow marks 75 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, initiating the U.S. involvement in World War II.  The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a large collection of maps of Pearl Harbor and other important places during the war.

The GRMC includes a large collection of World War II-era Army Map Service maps of strategic cities and other locations around the world that were critical in war planning.  A collection of World War II newspaper maps, World News this Week, are also available in the GRMC.

The map of Pearl Harbor (above, click to enlarge) was published by National Geographic to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the attack and is available for circulation from the GRMC.  The map includes an aerial photograph of Battleship Row and the Navy Yard taken three days after the Japanese attack.  Oil from the sunken and damaged ships can be seen streaming through the harbor.  The map details what happened to each of the battleships on that day, including a description of the 1,100 lives lost on the Arizona.  The verso of the map shows the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  For more information about using cartographic resources, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Maps Exhibit This Thursday in Downtown Muncie

Eat, Drink, and Cartography: Celebrating “My Indiana Home” with Maps and a Wicked Book

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is coordinating an exhibit for the Muncie DWNTWN First Thursday Arts Walk.  This Thursday, December 1 Twin Archer Brew Pub (117 West Charles Street) will be hosting an exhibit of maps of Indiana starting at 5:00 through 8:00 pm.  And Keith Roysdon and Douglas Walker will be signing copies of their new book, Wicked Muncie.

The map exhibit, “My Indiana Home,” features Indiana history maps created by the GRMC in celebration of the state’s Bicentennial this December 11.  The maps cover Indiana’s rich political history, women’s history, military history, music, sports, and even movies that take place in the state.  The newest map in the collection depicts the Vice Presidents from Indiana.  The collection of Indiana history maps is available in digital format in the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar repository or may be circulated from the GRMC.  Teachers can use the maps for classroom exhibits or research, especially for fourth-grade Indiana history lessons.

Ball State University students in Dr. Hannah Barnes’ watercolor and painting class also created original maps of their interpretation of home.  The students visited the GRMC to look at all the different kinds of cartography (above) for inspiration and then painted maps of their Indiana homes.  This collection is extremely creative: One student painted a compass rose of a common Indiana insect, the cicada (above).  These maps will be included as a special collection in the Libraries’ Digital Media Repository.

The book Wicked Muncie by Keith Roysdon and Douglas Walker describes the criminal history of Muncie.  The authors explored the notorious and unusual side of Muncie’s history of crime, including murder, corruption, and illegal gambling.  Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Twin Archer Brew Pub serves all ages as a restaurant and a bar that serves craft beer.  The menu includes fresh ingredients every day.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Geography Awareness Week Activities at Ball State University Libraries

Geography Awareness Week Events at Ball State University Libraries

The National Geographic Society created “Geography Awareness Week” to raise awareness to a dangerous deficiency in American education in the importance of geospatial issues and their impacts on students as global citizens.  The commemoration also serves to excite people about geography as both a discipline and as a part of everyday life.

November 13-19 is “Geography Awareness Week,” and the Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is celebrating with special events.  GIS Day is Wednesday, November 16 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm in the Bracken Library Schwartz Digital Complex.  Attendees will be able to learn about GIS software and data resources on campus, attend brief presentations by faculty about how they use GIS in their research, and view and vote for their favorite student-created GIS research posters.

On Wednesday evening from 6:00 to 7:00 pm geography and history fans can attend a special class about Indiana history at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts (520 East Main Street) in downtown Muncie.  The class will feature custom Indiana history maps created to celebrate the state’s Bicentennial in December.  Some of the maps feature events in Indiana political history, sports history, and women’s history.  Maps about the lives of famous Hoosiers will also be shown, including Madam C.J. Walker, John Dillinger, and Marshall “Major” Taylor.

For more information about these events, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Celebrate Indiana History with Maps, Art, and a Crime Novel

Celebrating 200 Years of Indiana History Using Maps, Art, and a Wicked Book

The Ball State University Libraries GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will provide a presentation celebrating the Bicentennial of Indiana on November 16 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts (520 East Main Street).  This presentation will feature maps from the Map Collection in Bracken Library and will also include custom Indiana history maps created by the GRMC to commemorate the Bicentennial.

Some of the maps included in this special series describe events in the state’s political history, women’s history, civil rights history (above, click to enlarge), the automobile industry, sports, and music.  The series also includes maps featuring famous people from Indiana.  One of the newest maps created for the project details the route of a bicycle road race across Indiana won by world champion Marshall “Major” Taylor in 1895.

The maps include historic photographs from the Libraries’ Digital Media Repository.  And copies of the map may be downloaded from Cardinal Scholar.  (Just type "Indiana history map" in the search box). 

The presentation will also include maps of Indiana created by geography students in Dr. Jorn Seemann’s cartography classes.  And information about how teachers can incorporate the maps into the social studies classroom will be provided.

The maps will also be exhibited at Twin Archer Brewpub (117 West Charles Street) on December 1 as part of the Muncie Downtown First Thursday Arts Walk.  This event will also include hand-drawn maps of Indiana from the watercolor class of Dr. Hannah Barnes from the Ball State University Department of Art.  And Keith Roysdon and Douglas Walker will be signing copies of their new Muncie crime history book, Wicked Muncie.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

GIS Day Is November 16 at Ball State University Libraries

GIS Day at Bracken Library November 16

The Ball State University Libraries will be hosting GIS Day from 1:00 to 4:00 pm on November 16 in the Schwartz Digital Complex off the lobby of Bracken Library.  The focus of this year’s event is faculty research.

At 1:00 pm Dongying Li, Instructor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, will present Grassroots Mapping and Crowdsourcing: Examining the Experiential Quality of Urban Space. 

At 1:25 pm Dr. Chad Kinsella, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, will present Geographic Polarization.

At 1:50 pm Kevin Nolan and Christine Thompson of the Applied Anthropology Lab, will present GIS Applied to Anthropology: Use of Spatial Analysis in the Applied Anthropology Lab.

At 2:15 pm Dr. Jorn Seemann, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, will provide details about the Delaware County BIG Map Project for the Indiana Bicentennial Celebration.

At 3:00 pm Dr. Jim Connolly, Director of the Middletown Center and Professor in the Department of History, and Dr. Doug Seefeldt, Assistant Professor in the Department of History, will present a session on the Ball State University Digital Scholarship Lab.

A GIS student poster competition will be included in the events.  Posters will be displayed in the Schwartz Digital Complex Lobby.  Awards for the posters will be announced at 2:30 pm.

GIS Day is sponsored by the Ball State University GIS Knowledge Group in coordination with SPA Research Week.  For more information, please contact Angela Gibson in the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) at 765-285-1097.

Times Changing This Weekend

Maps in the News:  Times Are Changing

Vox created these maps (above, click to enlarge) to show how the implementation of Daylight Saving Time affects the number of “reasonable” sunrises and sunsets.  Daylight Saving Time ends at exactly 2:00 am on November 6—this Sunday morning.

Updated and Custom Electoral College Maps

Monkeying Around with Red States and Blue States

Survey Monkey has created an interactive electoral map where users can check the results of the company’s ongoing election tracking survey.  The company is updating the electoral map regularly in the final days of the election.  Users can select different categories to see how the map changes—women, men, millennials, college versus no college, married versus unmarried women (above, click to enlarge).  Users can also click on individual states, changing the state color from blue to red or red to blue, to predict the outcome of the election and create a custom electoral map.

Online Map Tracks the Presidential Candidates

All Over the Map:  On the Presidential Campaign Trail with Clinton and Trump

ESRI, the world’s leading publisher of GIS software, has created a Story Map that allows users to track the U.S. presidential candidates from the national conventions to Election Day.  Campaign Travel Log identifies locations where each of the candidates have traveled and provides a glimpse of which swing states will be in play.

Users can choose to follow the travel log of Hillary Clinton or switch to Donald Trump.  Details of the candidates’ visits are provided in a column on the right.  And you can click on a location on the map, and the log will automatically be directed to the description of that visit.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) consolidates one-on-one research assistance from the GIS Specialist with the GIS Research Area, which offers access to ESRI GIS software, online tutorials, datasets, online mapping applications, and in-house GIS data.  GIS software is also available on computers throughout Bracken Library, the Architecture Library, and in the Science-Health Science Library.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Presidential Election Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Associated Press 2008 election map at NBC News headquarters

Metrocosm

Red States and Blue States: History of Presidential Electoral Maps

The use of color on maps is a key component in cartographic design.  Perhaps the best known colors on a map are the “red states” and “blue states” on a presidential electoral map. 

According to GeoLounge, the practice of identifying a political party on a map by color dates back to 1883, when the first map of red and blue political affiliations was produced.  And since the 2000 election, the practice has been standardized with red representing Republicans and blue representing Democrats.

The complete historical timeline of all 57 presidential elections can be tracked on 270 to Win.  Metrocosm, a unique Web page for current maps and statistical analysis, has created maps showing all of the colors of the early presidential elections.

An exhibit depicting the results of the presidential elections since 1952 is currently displayed in the front windows of the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library.  Sixty Years of Red States and Blue States will be on display through Election Day.  And maps of the electoral results are available for circulation from the GRMC.

Maps of Chicago Available from Ball State University Libraries

1929 U.S. Geological Survey map of Chicago

(Wrigley Field can be seen below the Graceland Cemetery).

1939 U.S. Geological Survey map of Chicago

(Note the changes to the lake shore).

Wrigleyville and surroundings

Chicago Neighborhoods map

Wrigley Field 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Maps in the News:  Chicago and Wrigley Field

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library includes a large collection of maps of Chicago.  The collection includes street maps, topographic maps, fire insurance maps, tourist guides, architecture plans, and aerial photographs.

Historic maps of Chicago include bird’s-eye view maps that were popular after the Civil War.  This set of illustrated maps includes views of the city from 1868, 1893, 1898, and 1916.  The views include the central business district and a map of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

One of the oldest maps in the collection of the city dates from 1855, and the Blanchard’s Guide Map of Chicago in the GRMC dates from 1873.  Royal Blue Line Map and Guide to Chicago was published in 1924.  East and West Streets of Chicago was published in 1907.  Road maps of the state of Illinois include maps of Chicago and date back to the 1930’s.

Tourists traveling to Chicago will find a number of maps and guides in the GRMC.  The iMap of Chicago includes a 12-page guide with a compass attached to the map.  Chicago Unfolds is a pop-up map and guide, and The World on the Lake is also a unique tourist guide map.

The GRMC also has all of the U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle maps for the Chicago area dating back to 1889 (later maps shown above).  Geography students and other researchers use these maps to track the growth of the city and changes to the shore of Lake Michigan.  (The footprint of Wrigley Field is shown on the maps above).

The collection of Chicago maps also includes transit maps, zip code maps, maps of Cook County and the suburbs, architecture guides, and maps focusing on the Loop.  The 2001 Chicago Neighborhoods map (above) identifies the traditional neighborhoods of the city, including Wrigleyville.

The Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library also includes several street atlases of Chicago.  A folio of Chicago maps and plat maps dating to 1876 can also be found in the Atlas Collection.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  Atlases can be borrowed for 28 days or longer.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Maps of Mosul and Iraq Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Battle for Mosul in Maps

Iraqi and Kurdish forces (aided by American special forces and airstrikes) are pushing toward the city of Mosul, Iraq.  The forces are battling to retake Iraq’s second-largest city from the Islamic State (Isil).  Iraqi and Kurdish troops have captured several villages from the east, while attempting to avoid suicide car bombs, booby traps, mines, and improvised explosive devices left by the Isil fighters along the way.  The city of Mosul is also laced with car bombs and mines.

The New York Times offers a glimpse of the battle via satellite images.  Aljazeera created a map (above, click to enlarge) showing the area surrounding Mosul and which forces are in control.  And The Washington Post provides maps that describe the history of the city dating back to the First Crusade.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes hundreds of maps of Iraq and the Middle East—both historic and current.  The second map above (click to enlarge) is part of a guide map of Iraq that was published in English and Persian.  A map of the city of Mosul is shown (above), and the map also includes detailed maps of Erbil, Baghdad, and Karbala.

The last map is from a set of topographic maps of Iraq that were published by the War Office of Great Britain in 1931.  The map was later reissued by the U.S. Army Map Service during World War II.  The map depicts relief shown by contours and identifies locations of telegraph and telephone lines, water towers, pumping stations, hospitals, ancient tombs, and other important sites.

Maps from the GRMC may be circulated for two weeks or longer.  For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Cartographic Resources for the Classroom from Ball State University Libraries

Teaching Geography from the Sky

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) conducts instructional sessions for education students to promote geographic literacy and to introduce future teachers to useful cartographic resources for their classrooms.  Students are exposed to maps and atlases in the Libraries’ collection, the Libraries’ digital cartographic resources, and interesting Web pages that offer unique perspectives of the geography of the world.

One intriguing Web resource is the Flight Radar 24 page.  The site is a live flight tracker that shows air traffic around the world in real time.  Radar data and flight schedules and status data from airlines and airports combine to offer a unique way of looking at a world map.

Users can zoom in to a region or zoom out to see the common world flight paths (top above, click to enlarge).  Teachers using the site for learning more about geography can discuss with students the “great circle routes,” where aircraft, for example, flying from London to New York travel north then south in an arc because further north is a smaller distance to fly.  Teachers can discuss the lack of flights over the Sahara Desert and the Amazon Rain Forest.  And older students can learn about why so few aircraft are flying over places like Syria and Iraq.

Click on one of the aircraft and the flight information (if available) will be shown on the left.  The origin city and the destination are shown.  The airline and flight number, departure time, length of the flight, and great circle distance are revealed.  The type of aircraft and the altitude are also identified.  And once an aircraft is selected, the flight path is shown on the screen.

Today offers an interesting lesson on the site.  As Hurricane Matthew makes its way toward Florida, aircraft are avoiding the southeastern coast of the United States.  A flight from Miami to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic actually traveled west and then southeast to avoid the hurricane (above).  And early this morning a “hurricane hunter” plane (Lockheed WP-3D Orion) deployed from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could be seen flying back and forth through the hurricane (above).

For more information about using cartographic resources in the classroom, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Haiti Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Haiti Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Hurricane Matthew made landfall on the coast of Haiti this morning as a Category 4 storm and is on track to affect the Carolinas this weekend as a Category 2 or 3 storm.   The top image was taken from the International Space Station.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a variety of maps of Haiti and the Caribbean Islands.  The Collection includes travel, physical, and topographic maps of Haiti, the island of Hispaniola, and the Caribbean Islands.

A reproduction map of the island of Hispaniola from 1722 was published by Historic Urban Plans and is available from the GRMC.  This colorful map features relief shown pictorially on the island.  A map dating back to 1956, Hispaniola: Urban and Rural Population Map, presents the population of Haiti and the Dominican Republic from 1950 statistics.  Mapa de la Isla de Santo Domingo y Haiti por el General Cashmiro n de Moya (photograph above) is a map of Haiti and the Dominican Republic published in 1905.  This original map corresponds with U.S. control of Dominican customs during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential administration.

The GRMC also includes a tourist map of Haiti and the Dominican Republic that includes inset maps of large cities, including Port-au-Prince.  The map was published in 2000.  The map shown above (click to enlarge) of Port-au-Prince and Petion-Ville is a guide map published in 1978.  The map was created by the Nader Art Gallery in Port-au-Prince and marks points of interest like the U.S. Embassy, cathedrals, museums, theaters, and hotels.

Nautical charts in the GRMC depict the coastline of Haiti.  The last map shown above is a custom map of Haiti created by the GRMC for use in exhibits or presentations.  These updated maps of countries around the world are available for download for research and learning.  Map posters from the GRMC are also available from Cardinal Scholar.  The large maps may be printed by members of the Ball State University community using the plotters in the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  Please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097 for more information about these cartographic resources.

Culture Programs at Ball State University

Travel the World Every Wednesday at Lunch: Ball State University Hosts Weekly International Culture Exchange

The Ball State University Rinker Center for International Programs hosts a Culture Exchange each week where an international student presents information about a country.  Every week a different country is highlighted.  The majority of exchanges provide an overview of the country and its culture with time set aside for questions and answers. 

The presentations are held every Wednesday from 12:00 to 1:00 pm in the Phyllis Yuhas Room in the Student Center (Room 102), and often the food court next door provides a featured dish from the country.

This week’s presentation features Libya from Kheiria Benkato.  Ball State University Dining Services is sponsoring a FREE dish inspired by Libya from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm in the Student Center Tally on Wednesday.

Next week is a presentation about China, and the following Wednesday, October 19, offers a unique view of the Isle of Man.  Iraq will be the feature on October 26; Papua New Guinea is November 2; Pakistan is November 9; Tajikistan is November 16.  India will be the first presentation after the Thanksgiving break on November 30, and Kuwait will be presented on December 7.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) provides maps and photographs from atlases as visual aids for the culture presentations.  The map posters from previous Culture Exchange presentations are available from the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar.  Simply type the name of a country in the search box or choose keywords “map poster” to see the list of available posters for use in exhibits, classroom bulletin boards, speeches, or research.  Large copies may be printed in the GRMC on the plotter printers and charged to the Bursar account for anyone in the Ball State University community.

For more information about the Culture Exchange program, p lease contact the Rinker Center for International Programs at 765-285-5422.  For more information about using cartographic resources from Cardinal Scholar, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Mapping History Class at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts

Dear Diary: Mapping U.S. History Using Local Diaries

The Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository (DMR) provides online access to a range of digitized primary sources, including films, artwork, maps, and photographs.  But also included in the DMR is a collection of unique local diaries dating back to the 1800’s.  So the Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) used excerpts from some of the diaries to research different eras of American history in coordination with maps related to historical events.

The GRMC will provide a presentation of this unique look at history tomorrow, September 27 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts in downtown Muncie.  The class, Dear Muncie: Mapping History Using Diaries, will use the diaries of city founder Thomas Neely, Muncie single working woman, Norene Hawk, and Muncie teenager Thomas Ryan to reveal some of the important events and places in the city at the turn of the 20^th century. 

The diaries describe how national and world events affected the people of Muncie.  And coordinating maps track where Norene and the “Thomases” traveled in Muncie.  Other local diaries will show how people across Indiana reacted to world events through the end of World War II.

The class is free and open to the public.  The Cornerstone Center for the Arts is located at 520 East Main Street, and free parking is available.

Gas Pipeline Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News:  Gasoline Pipelines in the United States

A crucial gasoline pipeline closed on September 9 after the discovery of a spill of over 250,000 gallons in rural Alabama.  The Colonial Pipeline runs from Houston and supplies gasoline to New York and the east coast.  The leak will disrupt supplies and possibly drive up prices of fuel.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a collection of maps identifying the major gasoline and oil pipelines in the United States.  The Collection is available in the GRMC or in digital format from the Digital Media Repository (DMR).

United States Commodities Maps Collection includes a set of maps published by the U.S. Army Engineer Institute for Water Resources.  The Collection includes maps depicting various commodity movement routes, including iron, steel, crude oil, and grain.  The Continental Pipeline and other gasoline pipelines are depicted in black on this map.  Users can download the maps for research and learning.

For more information about using maps and other cartographic resources, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

September 11 Commemorated

Aerial View of Lower Manhattan, 1986

Ball State University Libraries

GIS Research and Map Collection

Aerial Photographer: Alex S. MacLean

Art: David A. Fox Studios, Narberth, Pennsylvania

Online Interactive Map of World Migration

World Migration on One Map

Cartographer Max Galka has created an interactive map that shows world migration by origin and destination country between 2010 and 2015.  The map is available via the Web page, Metrocosm. 

On the map, blue circles depict net migration coming in to a country; red circles represent more outflows.  Users can hover over a circle to see a country’s net migration.  Click on the circle to view the migration traffic of one country (click to enlarge map above, migration from Syria).

Laos Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Places in the News:  Laos

President Obama became the first U.S. President to visit the country of Laos yesterday.  President Obama is attending a series of Asian summit meetings.  Speaking in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, Obama pledged to spend $90 million over the next three years to clear unexploded bombs dropped on the country during the Vietnam War.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library has a large collection of maps of Laos and Asia.  The Collection includes tourist maps, topographic maps, physical maps, and maps showing economic factors and ethnic groups.  Historic and modern maps of Vientiane, Pakse, Savannakhet, and other cities in Laos are also available in the Collection.  The map of Vientiane (top map above, click to enlarge) was published in 1958 and shows significant buildings in the capital city. The maps are published in English, French, Lao, and Thai.  (The map above of Laos was published in Lao in 1963).

The GRMC also includes a collection of updated country maps that may be used for presentations and displays (digital or printed on-demand using the GRMC plotters).  These maps include a clear, easy-to-read map of the country with the largest cities and other geographic features depicted along with neighboring countries.

The last map is from State of the World Atlas by Dan Smith, published in 2006.  The map identifies in red countries experiencing casualties from landmines and/or explosive remnants of war.  In 2006, 1,367 people were reported killed by these explosives worldwide.

Maps from the GRMC may be circulated for two weeks or longer.  Contact the GRMC for more information about these cartographic resources or to use maps for displays, research, and learning.  The GRMC is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 and may be reached at 765-285-1097.